So here I am in Austira. I flew down here monday night after leaving Elena in Hamburg. It was probably one of the best short flights I had ever taken. It was only about an hour and a half, but the plan was rather new, had leather seats and the staff were really together and it even had the inflight map of where you are. This was pretty good for a budget airline.

I got into vienna around 6 that night and took the train into town. My friend Marjan had sent me great directions about how to use the train, what tickets to buy and where to get off. It was awesome and all worked like clock work. It was a 40 minute train ride into see Marjan. She was waiting at the train station, and like many of these reunions it was exciting to see each other again. She was rather amazed to see me in her city I could tell. It was a lot like when I first saw Bodo and Elena.

We went to her apartment, dropped my stuff and went out to get some food. I was starving, so this was awesome. We grabbed a meal and caught up on stuff over the last year and a half. It was great, because we really hadn't talked much since Cape Town. After dinner we went around a bit and then headed home to crash around 12:30.

The next day, she studied all day, so I was on my own to see the city. After getting up at the crack of 10:30 to a txt from Elena I set to work on getting tickets to Venice. I ended up having to go to the train station and book there as the online thing would not work. This was very frustrating and took the rest of the morning. On my way to the train station I noticed a sign to the technical museum, which was something that I wanted to do. I headed down there to have a look and spent a couple hours poking around. It was cool, a lot like going to the pacific science center with dad during doll shows.

Last night we went to this place called cafe central and had a dessert and a hot choclate. It was in this picturesque part of town and was a gorgeous building. You felt like stepping back in time. There was a piano playing and the style of building, fixtures and the dress of the waiters really made it fell like 100 years ago. It was cool!

So later we went for drinks with a couple of friends and headed home. Today We met the same friends for breakfast and then I got to take a class with Marjan as it was in english. It was fun to go and see what a european university was like. It was just like good old U Of O. Powerpoints in a auditorium about stuff that I only could pay attention about half time. Yep, just like being back in class. It was interesting, because it was my frist class in about a year and confirmed that, yeah school just isn't for me.

This afternoon I've had a chance to hangout and catchup on what everyone is doing back in oregon. This has been really nice. Cyclocross looks awesome this year and I can't wait to get back to it! It has also been nice as I have been traveling and on the move so much in the last two weeks that having a chance to just hangout has been really nice. Marjan has set me up with a great home base and I have the freedom to come and go when I want.

So i'll be in Oregon this time next week. That's pretty crazy if you ask me. It is a mixed bag for sure, but It's time. This trip has been good for me, but it has been a little long for me. I've adapted well to it, but it is tiring to be moving all the time and to never feel like you have a home. So it's time to head back to Oregon and see everyone again and i'm ready. See you all soon and wish you the best.

E